Lark

 

Old fashioned English style and vintage nostalgia at Lark

Bright coloured melamine and party ware 

Cute stationery, books, stickers, tins and baking goodies 

Fab door covered in old Ladybird children's book jackets (I recognise a lot of these as I used to read them as a child!) 

 The Lark Christmas catalogue - featuring my vintage tea themed melamine plates!

A few weekends ago I was in Daylesford to visit the super-cute shop Lark.  Lark is brimming with old fashioned English style, vintage nostalgia, brightly coloured party ware and all things seriously cute!

Lark stocks a mix of hand selected children's designs, adorable homewares and accessories, designer products such as the Cath Kidston range, as well as a range of products from local designers (including me!)  It's a gorgeous shop perfect for buying gifts, with any presents expertly wrapped in pretty papers, coloured ribbons and sweet patterned tape. 

The Lark Christmas catalogue is out now and I'm very thrilled that it includes two of my vintage tea-themed melamine plates!

You can visit the Lark online shop here, pop over to the blog, or browse the Christmas catalogue - or you could be really retro and actually visit the shop in person!

Lark - 4A Duke Street, Daylesford, Victoria.

Olle Eksell

This is a fabulous book featuring the work of Swedish graphic designer Olle Eksell - and I've been meaning to blog about the book for a while.  Olle Eksell was an influential graphic designer working in the 1950's and worked across diverse design disciplines including illustration, packaging design, branding, fabric and textile designs.

I love the naiive and quirky style of Olle's work, with many of his designs having a sense of humour and whimsy to them.  As with many of the designers I admire, he was working at a time of pre-computerisation so his illustrations and designs posess all the quirks and flair of his hand created artwork.  

Olle Eksell Swedish Graphic Designer is available from the rather fabulous Pie Books.

100 years of East London style

Following on from the previous London themed post, I spotted this video on by b and e and thought it was worth sharing!

The video celebrates 100 years of East London fashion in 100 seconds, from 1911 - 2011. I love all the fabulous vintage clothing and the gorgeous hats! It makes me want to change out of my boring jeans and converse shoes, and put on a cute 1940's dress for the afternoon.

Watch it with the sound on....again...and again... it's quite addictive!

I Love London

I bought this wrapping paper from Lark the other day as I just loved the quirky illustrations depicting London with classic black cabs, the big red bus and snooty business people!

 

The illustrations on the wrapping paper reminded me of the 'London Collection' hand screen printed wallpaper designs by British designer Lizzie Allen. 

Lizzie has a fabulous quirky illustrative style, and I love these designs with their sketchy collage images of iconic London scenes and business people going about their busy daily lives.  I love the 'London City Gents' reading the newspaper, the 'red buses and black cabs' - and also the classic black umbrella which is a necessity when living in England!  

Japanese mugs

Cute patterned Japanese mugs from Gleaners Inc 

Last week I blogged about the super-cute shop Gleaners Inc.  As usual, I couldn't visit a shop selling second-hand kitchenalia without making a small purchase!  I came away with these very gorgeous Japanese mugs with the most amazing pattern details. 

I love that the mugs are in three colours and the patterns are all different - with a mix of geometric and floral motifs.  I already have a small collection of these style of Japanese mugs - but I'd never before come across any quite so intricate or patterned!

The above mugs are ones I already had and which have featured in some of my illustrations and sketches, so the new patterned ones will be a great addition to my growing collection. 

 

 Some sketches featuring my Japanese mugs

Home Beautiful

 

I was really thrilled to see two of my melamine plates featured in the latest Home Beautiful magazine! 

High Tea & Tea Party were included in the 'We Love' section as favourite finds by stylist Sami Simper.  The theme for the favourite finds was 'graceful and delicately-hued designs with a handcrafted feel' so I was really pleased my vintage melamine plates were included.

 
Also in this latest November issue of Home Beautiful was fellow textile designer and illustrator Natalie Ryan. Natalie has a lovely blog featuring her own illustrations and textile designs - and her blog was mentioned in the 'love at first site' column. Natalie used to design for Linen House where she created some beautiful children's bed linen ranges, and like myself she loves to create hand-painted illustrations.  You can check out Natalie's blog here!

Gleaners Inc

Uh-oh..... There's a new cute shop in Brunswick selling lots of things that I like!.....

Cute details outside the ecclectic 'Gleaners Inc' 

Lots of second hand, vintage and retro goodies! 

Betty Jo's famous recycled lino brooches and clocks - and wall plates by Me Old China!

Fab owls revamped from old kitchen utensils and found objects from Focus on Art - love, love, love!

Succulents planted in metallic blue teapots, one of my Me Old China cut-out wall plates and ceramic brooches by Septembre Vintage Ceramics

Betty Jo's studio space and workshop on-site at Gleaners Inc 

Upcycled vintage fabric bags and pouches by Curlypops 

Gleaners Inc is a new shop run by the very lovely Liz Jones of Betty Jo fame.  The cute little shop is based in an old 1950's Perruci Shirts factory and has lots of second hand, vintage, recycled, retro and kitsh treasures (very dangerous for my pocket money!)  It also stocks recycled work by local designers, including Betty Jo, Curlypops, Focus on Art, Septembre Vintage Ceramics and my collection of my Me Old China wall plates.

The shop space also occupies the workshop for Liz to make her revamped brooches, clocks and jewellery from old lino.  I'm super jealous as I'd love to have a studio and retail space in a 1950's factory!!

Gleaners Inc is at 2 Ballarat Street, Brunswick (just around the corner from the Mariana Hardwick building in Sparta Place, just off Sydney Road)